05 Aug 2023
Sarah Chambers and Alex Assadian look back over 30 years of Open Door with 30 facts you might not know about the facility.
1. In 1992 Kerry Pollard and a team of local church representatives set up a temporary night shelter in Victoria Street, where Open Door began. So successful was this experiment that in 1993, the local authority made available 8 Bricket Road at a peppercorn rent and the newly formed charity, Open Door St Albans began.
2. It is not commonly known that founder Kerry Pollard was urged into setting up the charity organisation thanks largely to the Ken Loach film ‘Cathy Come Home’! After watching the film, Kerry was inspired to work with other volunteers to open up the first Open Door night shelter and help the rough sleepers in St Albans.
3. Kerry Pollard, who is President of the Open Door charity, was Chair of the St Albans housing committee for several years – and MP for St Albans from 1997 to 2005. Mary Groves and Margaret Lewis were also heavily involved with Open Door; Mary Groves is the founder of the Rennie Grove charity and Margaret Lewis was chair of Churches Housing Association (now Hightown) and Chair of Open Door until 2010.
4. In 30 years, Open Door, with the help of the St Albans’ community, has supported over 7,000 people who have experienced homelessness and been at risk of sleeping rough.
5. The charity supports the night shelter financially (which is managed by Hightown Housing Association) in a number of ways – financing the Outreach Worker, financing the Counsellor and Drug Link worker. It also finances the provision of food at the shelter, supports ongoing costs of maintaining the shelter, providing grants as required and move-on packs to those newly housed.
The charity also recruits and manages the 70 strong team of volunteers.
6. Whilst the premises are provided for a peppercorn rent by St Albans district council, and grants come from local authorities and government agencies, donations and new volunteers are always needed.
7. In 1993 shortly after setting up, the charity soon came to the view that the special needs of the service users made it impractical to run the shelter with volunteers alone. Churches Housing Association (now known as Hightown Housing Association) agreed to take over the management of the project.
8. The partnership between Hightown Housing Association and the charity has proved an immensely successful one over the years. The Drop In Service gives additional support to those using the night shelter and to other homeless or vulnerable people living in St Albans. Even in difficult financial times, the charity has been able to run the Drop In since 1993 with one exceptional year gap.
Redevelopment and new initiatives:
9. In 2008 Open Door and Hightown decided to embark upon a major redevelopment project. The charity launched a fundraising appeal which raised over £300,000. To supplement a grant of £525,000 from the government Places for Change programme.
10. On 12th April 2010 the new service began. The project benefitted from a new build to the front of the building, the provision of 12 single ensuite bedrooms, improvements in the kitchen, laundry areas and communal areas were upgraded, and for the first time computers were installed. A vast improvement on the previous three bunk bed dormitories.
11. Joan Bailey: Chair 2010-2017. As a senior civil servant, Joan set up the government rough sleeping unit and produced a strategy to reduce rough sleeping, called ‘coming in from the cold’. Many of the policies and practices continue to be pursued at Open Door today.
12. The Safer Streets Outreach began in 2011, supporting the city’s rough sleepers through help and advice on moving on from homelessness and leading more settled lives. This service has proved immensely successful.
13. In 2016 Outreach shower facilities were installed so that rough sleepers had access to washing and laundry facilities.
The Winter Beds Project:
14. In 2017, representatives from St Albans city centre churches got together to discuss the number of rough sleepers during the winter. The aim was to provide extra beds for rough sleepers in the coldest weather when the beds at Open Door were already allocated. Five extra beds were provided at Trinity United Reform Church and the project was set up in January 2018. They have now moved to Emmaus.
15. Open Door finances and manages the Winter Beds Project – a charity initiative which is completely volunteer led and managed by Trustee Lucy Gaygusuz.
Although it receives some council funding the charity makes up the shortfall of around £25,000 each year.
16. In 2020 as a result of Covid, Open Door was unable to offer communal living arrangements to Winter Beds Project guests, so looked into alternative arrangements. They provided self contained accommodation in pods placed within the grounds of Emmaus with help from Morgan Sindall Construction. The Winter Bed Pods included shower, beds, heating and ensuite facilities.
17. Open Door works closely with other local charities with the same visions including the Vineyard FEED centre, Centre 33, Emmaus, the St Albans District Food Bank, the Hygiene Bank, Forgotten Feet, First Give, Computers for Charity and Druglink.
Awards:
18. The St Albans Winter Beds project received a Housing Justice award in 2019, with a Housing Justice Quality Mark Accreditation for ‘excellent service’. The project was recognised for its safe and effective practice.
Housing Justice chief executive, Kathy Mohan said: “We are delighted to welcome the Open Door Winter Beds project to the network of Housing Justice Quality Mark accredited night shelters.
“Church and community night shelters are proving an effective response to homelessness across the country, providing shelter to people who might otherwise be forced to sleep on the street or sofa surf with friends or family.
“Many shelters are seeing the value of signing up to Housing Justice Quality Mark Accreditation. More than 30 church and community night shelters have been through the rigorous assessment process across the country.”
19. In 2020 the Winter Beds Project won the High Sheriff’s Award for a faith-based community project. The annual awards provide an opportunity to recognise and celebrate some of the fantastic individuals and voluntary organisations who are helping to make our country better.
20. The Winter Beds Project won the Voluntary Sector Award in the 2020 Mayor’s Pride Awards. St Albans Mayor Cllr Janet Smith said: “All of the nominated charities, businesses and individuals have done a huge amount for our community over the past year and I am proud to have been able to recognise their efforts with these awards.”
Covid:
21. During the peak of the pandemic and lockdown, Open Door helped to coordinate the provision of food and liaised closely with St Albans district council, Hightown and several local charities including Centre 33, The Vineyard and Druglink to provide food where it was needed.
The night shelter remained open 24/7 throughout each lockdown thanks to volunteers, supporters and Hightown staff. Service users using the Winter Beds Project and any other rough sleepers who wanted accommodation were housed.
Partnerships:
22. Open Door partners with some amazing charities, organisations, churches and businesses, such as forgottenfeet.org who offer free chiropody/podiatry services to homeless clients who are most in need and least likely to get access.
23. Or St Saviours Church,
24. St Columba’s College,
25. And The St Albans Chamber Of Commerce.
26. Open Door is thrilled to be partnering with the St Albans Girls’ School through First Give to educate the students at the school on a range of social issues that affect the homeless.
The students take on Open Door as their elected charity and then undertake research to understand how best to plan and deliver social action activities (fundraising, awareness raising, volunteering) to support them. It’s a great partnership for both the school and the charity!
27. Open Door’s sponsors are Notcutts, Ayletts, Frosts, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Veolia, Mercer and Hole, Aon, Luff Sleep and the Alexandra Road Residents Group and
Skechers.
Get involved!
29. The charity’s main fund-raising drive is the annual sponsored Sleep Out, with the next event taking place on November 10 2023.
This year they want to go bigger and better and are looking for corporations to get involved! It could be a great team-building exercise for your company, or how about some friendly rivalry with local businesses to see who can raise the most or perhaps your company could match-fund someone taking part? Please contact info@opendoorstalbans.org for more information and to sign up.
